The Secret Room
by Star Polaris
Summary: The Weasley Twins find themselves in front of a mysterious door. Will they be able to open it and see what's behind? Does Harry hold the key to open The Secret Room?


Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters.

_A/N: Well, a few weeks ago, Vinnie told me I should write a fic in  
which the Twins would find out about the Marauders. Until now I  
didn't have the time to work on it, but here it is. It's a one shot,  
there won't be a sequel. Enjoy._

**The Secret room.**  
  
Harry watched as the Weasley Twins bend over another book. For the last few days, their pranks had stopped and they could always be found sitting in a corner of the Common Room surrounded by books. When she had first seen the two, Hermione had been convinced that they were finally starting to pay attention to their studies. Ron had snorted at her comment and stated that they were probably planning new pranks. Harry was tempted to agree with his red-haired friend, especially since a few days ago the twins had borrowed his Marauders Map.  
  
After almost a week of this strange behaviour, even Hermione had to agree that the twins were up to something. The problem was that nothing seemed to be happening, as there were no excited shouts or mischievous grins coming from their corner.  
  
The raven-haired teen was startled out of his thoughts when his bushy-hairedfriend came to sit at his side, settling down casually on the arm of the chair he had been sitting in.  
  
"Shouldn't someone ask them what's wrong?"  
  
Harry looked up in amusement. "Worried, Hermione? One would think that you would be glad at the lack of pranks."  
  
The girl shot him a dark look. "Pranks or not, they are my friends and I'm starting to get worried. Maybe we could help them?"  
  
Harry shrugged and motioned towards the table where the twins were sitting. "If you're so worried, go ask them."  
  
Hermione snorted. "Yeah, right, as if they would tell me about one of their pranks."  
  
The other teen shrugged. "Well, tell Ron to ask them, they're his brothers after all."  
  
Hermione looked down at him annoyed. "Don't encourage Ron, he's a prefect, he shouldn't think about pranks more than he already does." At Harry's disbelieving gaze, she reluctantly added, "He has already tried, but they refused to tell him anything."  
  
Harry snorted. "If they didn't tell Ron, what makes you think they're going to tell me?"  
  
With that last comment, Hermione bent over and placed a heavy hand on his shoulder. When she spoke, the hint of a hidden threat was clearly heard in her voice. "Harry, _dear_, you're going to go over there and ask, is that clear?"  
  
The teen nodded quickly, grinning a bit in amusement at the dark tone his friend had used. As soon as the girl's hand left his shoulder, he stood up and went over to the table the twins were sitting at. The pair didn't seem to notice him, so he sat down on a chair facing them. In a swift movement, he snatched away the book they had been reading. They both looked up at once, surprise etched on their faces as Harry looked down at the pages the twins had been looking at. "A yearbook? What on earth are you doing with that?"  
  
Fred, or at least Harry thought it was Fred, frowned at him. "We're just trying to find out something, nothing important."  
  
Harry snorted and after marking the page, he closed the book. "Yeah, right, not important. That's why even Hermione is worrying about you." The sarcasm was evident in his voice.  
  
George put a disbelieving frown on his face and brought his hands dramatically to his heart. "Hermione? Worried about us? And here we thought she only had eyes for Ron."  
  
Fred nodded in agreement and quickly stood up. "Come on George, we need to go reassure our Lady that we're fine. Do you think she'll like those bonbons we made last week?"  
  
George was about to jump out of his seat and go with his twin when Harry's dry voice interrupted their show. "You know, that would have worked much better if you meant it. Come on, out with it. What is worrying you so much that the last thing you've invented were those bonbons you gave out last month?"  
  
Fred sat back in his seat with a resigned frown. "Telling you that you're imagining things isn't going to work, is it?"  
  
Harry crossed his arms over his chest. "No."  
  
After sharing a long look with his twin, George finally bent forward and started to explain in a hushed voice.  
  
"About two weeks ago, we came across a painting placed near the kitchen. We noticed it by chance, because we were trying to hide from Filch and nearly ran into it. We think there might be a notice-me-not charm over it."  
  
Fred interrupted his brother. "Anyways, the painting showed four animals with a huge letter 'M' in the background. We're pretty sure it belonged to the Marauders and that there's a room behind it."  
  
George nodded in agreement and took over. "The problem is that it's password protected. We tried to use the same password as the one the map has, but it didn't work. That's why we asked to borrow the map: we thought that the password might show up there."  
  
Fred took out the old and wrinkled piece of paper and activated it in a soft whisper. The familiar picture of the Hogwarts grounds appeared in front of them. Looking towards the kitchen, Harry frowned. There were no rooms painted near it. Fred pointed towards an empty spot. "There it is."  
  
His confusion must have been apparent on his face, because George quickly explained. "You need to believe there is a room there in order to see it, Harry."  
  
Starring intently towards the spot Fred was pointing at, slow lines started to appear and formed a rather large room. George, who had been carefully looking at him, smiled. "See it?"  
  
Harry nodded without taking his eyes off of the map.

"Good." Fred took his wand and gently tapped it on the parchment, right on the newly formed room. A few words appeared on it, surprising Harry with their message.  
  
The title of Marauders has been passed on through the students of Hogwarts for centuries. To receive their secrets, one must reveal the true names of the last generation of Marauders.'  
  
Once Harry had read the short message, Fred erased the map and pointed towards the large stack of books they had been using. "And that's just what we have been trying to find out. But it's very difficult to discover the names of the last Marauders."  
  
George nodded in agreement. "But at least we know there have been no signs of Marauders here in our years at Hogwarts. We've also asked Bill and Charlie, and neither remember a group of pranksters during their years, so it's pretty safe to say there were no marauders in their time either. Other than that..."  
  
Harry nodded in understanding, and for a short moment, he considered telling them what they wanted to know. After all, if there hadn't been a Marauder group since Bill started at Hogwarts, it was pretty safe to assume his father and his friends had been the last ones. But he pushed that thought away: he would need to speak to Professor Lupin first, just to make sure that there wasn't anything dangerous in that room. When he looked up from his thoughts, the twins had opened another book and were going over the names again.  
  
Shaking his head, Harry decided to leave them alone and went to sit with Hermione and Ron. Hermione looked up and raised an eyebrow. "Well? What are they doing?"

Harry quickly explained what he had learned. "… so they're currently trying to figure out who the last generation of Marauders were."

Hermione gave him a look. "So…could we help them?"

Harry sat down. "We could help them, yes, but I need to make sure of a few things first."  
  
Ron frowned. "Do you reckon it's dangerous?"  
  
Harry laughed. "No, I don't think so. It seemed that Dad, Sirius, Remus and the rat weren't the first ones to roam the halls of Hogwarts and that the title of Marauders has been going around for quite some time. I just want to check it with Remus just in case."  
  
Ron grinned mischievously. "We could go take a look ourselves."  
  
Before he could go far with that thought, Hermione slapped him on the head. "I don't think so, Ronald Weasley. If that room really contains the secrets of the Marauders, we're not going to go anywhere near it."  
  
Harry nodded, for once agreeing with the girl. "She's right, Ron. If there's anyone here that deserves the title of the Marauders, it's the Twins. We get into enough trouble as it is without playing any pranks."  
  
Ron rolled his eyes but nodded anyways. Looking towards the two red-heads bent over a book, he shook his head. "If you really want them to enjoy that room, you might as well write that letter to Remus, Harry. They only have this year left."  
  
The other teen nodded in agreement and accepted the quill and parchment Hermione gave him. Quickly, he wrote a short note:  
  
Dear Moony,  
  
How are you doing? How is Snuffles doing? I hope you're both fine  
and that you're trying to stay safe. A few days ago, the Twins discovered  
the Marauders Room', and now they're looking for your names. I just  
wanted to make sure that the room is safe before helping them a  
bit. Would it be safe to do so? Please answer soon.  
  
Harry.  
  
The trio went to the owlery and sent Pig with the letter before making their way back to the Common room.  
  
For the next few weeks, they watched in amusement as the Twins tried to solve the secret of the Marauders. They had soon grown tired of looking through the books since it didn't seem to lead to anywhere. Instead, they had decided to ask their Professors for help.  
  
Harry had watched in amusement as the Twins approached Professor McGonagall. When asked, the woman had looked horrified for just a second before pursing her lips and sternly stating that she would resign before seeing another group of Marauders breaking havoc through these halls. Of course, that had limited the Twin's search quite a bit, as it meant that there had been a group within the years that McGonagall had taught. The other teachers hadn't been much help either. Some of them hadn't ever heard about such pranksters. Others, like Dumbledore, had just laughed, shook their heads and told them to leave it be. One group of Marauders had been enough for them.  
  
When the twins grew desperate enough to question Snape, it earned them a week detention and an enraged scolding from the man. Harry was tempted to tell them, but refrained because that very morning he had received Remus' answer. Remus had said that he and Sirius would arrive in two week, which was surprisingly the day before the Twin's birthday. They had asked Harry to give the honour to tell the Twins themselves so Harry was left with the job of planning the best way to get the Twins to the two Marauders.  
  
oo00oo  
  
Two weeks later, exactly at midnight, Harry made his way up to the  
seventh year boys' bedroom. Scanning the dim room quickly, he made  
his way towards the bed placed on his right. A red-head was sleeping  
soundly there and Harry almost felt regretful at the prospect of waking him. Shaking the pyjama clad shoulder lightly, he watched as George blinked and  
turned his face to him.  
  
"mmh, Harry?"  
  
The teen nodded and whispered back. "Wake Fred up and come down to  
the Common Room. I need to show you something."  
  
Without waiting for an answer, the younger wizard left the dark room  
and went to sit in the empty Common Room. Ten minutes later. the  
twins joined him. They both had dressed quickly and were looking  
sleepily around them.  
  
Fred finally locked his gaze on Harry and rubbed his eyes  
tiredly. "This had better be good, Harry."  
  
The younger teen smiled and stood up. "Well, I thought you might  
like to get my birthday present for you."  
  
George shook his head. "And couldn't that wait until tomorrow? After  
all. we were born at one in the evening, our birthday isn't in about  
thirteen hours."  
  
Harry rolled his eyes and shook his head. "No, it couldn't wait  
until tomorrow."  
  
He took a small letter out of his robes and handed it to the closest  
twin, which happened to be Fred. Curiously, the wizard opened the  
letter and saw an arrow blinking up at him.  
  
"Uh? Is this some kind of joke, Harry?"  
  
The younger teen chuckled, already making his way back up to his  
room. "You'll have to find out, won't you? Just follow the arrows."  
  
The Twins watched surprised as Harry disappeared and then returned  
their gaze to the parchment. Sighing, they finally decided to do what  
Harry had asked and left the common room. Hall after hall, they  
walked, following the arrows until they reached a door. Frowning,  
Fred noticed they were near the defence classroom. Looking down at  
the parchment again, they saw words forming on it.  
  
Slytherins Suck.'  
  
Chuckling lightly, George uttered the words and the door swung open.  
The room behind the door was lit up by a roaring fire and they could  
see a man standing just in front of it. The man turned around when  
he heard the door open and smiled.  
  
"Fred, George, it's good to see you again. We were starting to think  
you wouldn't come."  
  
George blinked, obviously surprised to see his old defence teacher  
standing there. "Professor Lupin! What are you doing here, sir?"  
  
The man chuckled. "Well, I was obviously waiting for the two of you."  
  
Fred frowned. "Harry said this was supposed to lead us to our  
birthday present. Do you know what he meant, professor?"  
  
A dark voice chuckled from within the shadows of the room. "I will  
never get used to the children calling you professor, Remus."  
  
The werewolf rolled his eyes as the Twins turned sharply  
around. "Shut up, Sirius." Turning to Fred and George, he walked  
forward and took the piece of parchment out of Fred's hand. "We're  
here to take you to your birthday present. Harry has told us that  
you've been searching for the names of the last generations of Marauders to open a certain room."  
  
George frowned. "He told you?"  
  
Sirius finally stepped out of the shadows. "Don't worry, he had his  
reasons to tell us. Come on, Moony, we don't have much time."  
  
Fred looked to the two adults. "What are we going to do?"  
  
Professor Lupin smiled and opened the door. "Well, you wanted to see that  
room, didn't you?"  
  
The Twins watched, dumbfounded, as the two older wizards left the  
room. Then, as one, they rushed outside.  
  
"Hey, wait just a moment!"  
  
George cut off his twin brother. "You know who the Marauders were?"  
  
Sirius snorted. "Were? That's just insulting! Did you hear that,  
Moony? Were, honestly."  
  
Those words froze the two teens in place. Fred looked at George and  
then started to shake his head. "George, brother mine, I think we've  
landed ourselves in a weird dream. I could swear I just heard Sirius  
calling Professor Lupin, Moony."  
  
George nodded lightly, not taking his eyes off the werewolf, who in turn had  
stopped to give the two some time to process the news. "I know, Fred, I  
heard it too, but there's no way that one of the Marauders would  
become a teacher."  
  
Before Fred could reply, Sirius snorted. "You'ld better believe it. Old  
Moony here has become a perfect gentleman. Besides, he always was our  
voice of reason."  
  
Almost at once, the Twins said: "Our?"  
  
This time it was Remus who cut the conversation short. "Enough,  
Padfoot, we need to get those two safely inside the Marauders room.  
You know Severus would just love to find us out in the halls at this  
time with two students."  
  
Sirius snorted. "I'm not scared of old Snivellus."  
  
Shaking his head, Moony cuffed his friend on the head. "He's just as  
old as we are, and while you may not be afraid of him, maybe you  
should think about what Dumbledore would do if he saw us influencing  
two of his students."  
  
Sirius laughed softly. "He would just twinkle down at us with his  
eyes and tell us how we shouldn't lead students astray."  
  
Remus shook his head, while he started to walk again. "But he would  
tell Minerva, and I'm sure she would be much more vocal about it."  
  
The other man looked suddenly a bit afraid. "You've got a very good  
point there, my friend. Come on, boys, we need to get a move on before  
we're discovered."  
  
Still in shock at the latest revelations, the twins followed  
silently. After turning a few times, they ended up in front of the  
mysterious door that had caught their interest a few weeks ago. The  
two older men watched it with slight smiles on their faces.  
  
"Ah, the things we planned in here, remember Moony?"  
  
The werewolf chuckled. "How could I forget, Padfoot? We used to hang  
out for hours in here."  
  
George finally seemed to regain his power of speech. "You really were the  
Marauders?"  
  
Sirius grinned down to him and bowed lightly. "Mr. Padfoot at your service, my boy."  
  
Remus rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't take him up on that offer of I were you; he'll  
land you in more trouble than you need."  
  
The animagus looked offended. "Moony, that's not fair! I could  
really help them!"  
  
The werewolf shook his head, returning his attention to the locked  
door. "Padfoot, honestly, they don't need our help. It's their time  
now, let them enjoy it just like we did."  
  
Sirius sighed, almost sadly. "I know, Moony, but we had such a nice  
time."  
  
Both men stayed silent for a long moment before Remus turned towards  
the Twins. "From the moment you step through this door, you won't  
need to use a password anymore, you'll just have to touch the large  
M to open it, and you will have the right to call yourselves the  
Marauders, ok?"  
  
Fred smiled, excited at the prospect. Sirius, not tearing his gaze  
from the closed door, spoke softly. "James Potter, Sirius Black,  
Remus Lupin." Then, exchanging a reluctant glance with his partner  
he went to say the last name, but much to their surprise the door  
started to shine.  
  
Moony and Padfoot blinked in confusion for a moment, they knew that  
the door was getting ready to accept new owners. It seemed that  
Hogwarts had sensed what had happened to the last of the Marauders  
and had erased his name from its grounds.  
  
With pleased smiles, both men stood back and motioned towards the  
door. "Go ahead, boys, put your hands on the door."  
  
Without any sign of reluctance, the two teens did so. The light that  
had been encompassing the door faded and this time the large M was  
surrounded by the bodies of two Gryffindor lions. With barely a  
sound, the door opened and Fred and George stepped forward, seeing a  
large room in front of them. Looking back, George frowned.  
  
"Aren't you coming in with us?"  
  
Sirius shook his head. "No, child, Moony is right. Our time as  
Marauders has ended and I'm sure the two of you will be able to  
carry on without us. Go on, enjoy it and remember that at the end of  
your stay here, a new group of Marauders will raise to take your  
place."  
  
Remus smirked, standing calmly at his friend's side. "And something  
tells me that Prongs junior will be the leader of that group."  
  
Sirius laughed softly. "I would be disappointed if he wasn't, with  
such a heritage as his."  
  
Both men turned around and left the two teens to their own devices,  
knowing that they would honour the title of Marauders.  
  
The next morning prank after prank went off at the halls of  
Hogwarts. Many thought they were just to celebrate the Twins'  
birthday, but Harry knew better. When that evening the large sign of  
the Marauders floated over the Teacher's table in the Great Hall, he  
knew that the Twins had taken over and that that year would be  
filled by pranks and jokes.  
  
He was absentmindedly sipping his tea in the Great Hall when Ron  
nudged him gently. "What are you thinking about, mate?"  
  
The raven-haired teen smirked. "How long do you think that it will  
take us to convince Hermione that being a Marauder isn't that bad?"  
  
The other teen snorted in disbelieve. "Harry, mate, that will take  
us years! I don't even think that that's ever going to happen."  
  
Harry just shrugged, looking up as Snape stormed out the Great Hall,  
scowling at his suddenly pink robes. "We have less than a year to  
convince her, so start coming up with ideas, my friend."  
  
The End.

A/N: Lots of thanks to Firestar for her wonderful beta-reading.


End file.
